View full sizeMatt York, Associated PressBradley Beal has drawn comparisons to Ray Allen as a shooter, which explains why the Cavaliers will seriously consider taking him with their first pick in the NBA Draft.

Cleveland -- As if comparing Bradley Beal to a perennial NBA All-Star wasn't enough pressure, why not predict the 18-year-old shooting guard will be even better?

Why not guess that Beal, the Florida freshman whom the Cavaliers are eyeing as a possible No. 4 pick in the NBA Draft, will shoot the ball just as silkily smooth, drive to the basket with singular ambition and rebound better than the guy who already has an NBA championship ring?

If everyone is comparing Beal to Ray Allen, Don Showalter figures it might be time to go one step further.

"I think he's going to be a better rebounder than Ray Allen was," said Showalter, the USA Basketball coach who oversaw Beal's U-17 team in 2011. "I think he's going to be better at going to the basket. I think he's got a better game of getting the ball to the basket. He's a great shooter like Ray Allen. I think he's got some things that in the future are going to make him a longtime NBA player and All-Star."

After all, why put any limits on Beal? After just one season with the Gators, when he averaged 14.8 points on 44 percent shooting, the 6-4 two-guard declared for the NBA Draft. And with a shooting stroke pure and accurate, observers and coaches alike see nothing but potential in Beal, who will turn 19 on Thursday, the day of the NBA Draft.

It has been that way for Beal since he began playing basketball, the only one of five boys in his family who didn't stick with football through high school.

Instead, he shined in basketball and was the 2011 Gatorade National Player of the Year at St. Louis' Chaminade College Preparatory School.

And he not only was a part of the U-17 World Championship team in 2010, he also was the MVP in helping the USA go 8-0 while averaging 18.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

Though Beal shot just 34 percent from 3-point range during his season at Florida, he got stronger as his freshman year progressed.

In Beal's final five games, he didn't make fewer than half of his shot attempts. In Florida's 68-58 NCAA Tournament victory over Marquette, he sank 8-of-10 field goals.

And Beal reckons he hasn't yet shown the basketball world another side of his game -- that he yearns to be more of a combo guard than a straight shooting guard.

"I don't have a problem with handling the ball," Beal said at the NBA Combine in Chicago. "I think I have great ball-handling ability now, but it can get better, which is what I want to do -- keep improving to where I can run the offense and become a point guard."

In fact, Beal said he has always admired Allen Iverson, the gutsy little scorer who craved to handle the ball, and that he would "love" to play alongside Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving to show how their skills could mesh.

"I don't like to limit myself to just being a shooter like Ray Allen," Beal said. "I like to do everything and contribute to a win."

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